Dungy unaware Patriots taped Bucs signals

Tony Dungy said he did not suspect Patriots coach Bill Belichick had ordered the taping the Bucs preseason game in 2000 or that the information was used in the regular-season opener weeks later.

   The Bucs won the game 21-16, sacking quarterback Drew Bledsoe six times and knocking him down 13 other occasions.

   Dungy, who has coached the Indianapolis Colts since 2002, said he later thought signals might have been stolen.

   "Not at that time, no, not in 2000,'' Dungy told the St. Petersburg Times Friday. "But later on.''

   The New York Times reported Friday that Belichick's pattern of illegally taping opponent's signals began with Belichick's coaching debut with the Patriots in a preseason game against the Bucs.

   "I really don't have a reaction,'' Dungy said. "We'll see if it's true. If it is, it'll be interesting to see how they got them and all that. It'll come out.''

   Belichick was fined $500,000 and the Patriots docked $250,000 and ordered to forfeit a first-round draft pick for illegally taping the New York Jets sidelines signals in the 2007 season opener.

   But new allegations have surfaced. The NFL is interested in talking to Matt Walsh, a former videographer for the Patriots who reportedly taped the St. Louis Rams' walk-through two days before beating the Rams 20-17 in Super Bowl XXXVI at New Orleans in 2002.

   Chiefs coach Herm Edwards, who coached the Bucs secondary in 2000, was surprised by charges that Belichick illegally taped the Bucs.

   "How about that?'' he said. "I'm going to leave it alone, man.''

   Edwards says he doesn't believe the Patriots' spying helped them win games.

   "We're chasing ghosts,'' he said. "What I want to know, let's say they find out whatever they're going to find out. What are you going to do? They're not giving the Super Bowl trophy back. They're not going to take their wins away. It didn't help them win. They had to go execute. They had to go play. We keep losing sight of that.''

Comments

[shane]

you know i don't think that all this "new" spygate information would have surfaced had the patriots won the superbowl and gone 19-0 the league probably already knew about all of this and was keeping it under their skin. then again maybe all of this would have surfaced anyway and probably would be worse

Time for Congress to cancel the league's antitrust exemption if Goodell is going to continue to cover up for the Patriots.

[Jason]

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sure hope the pats don't win another SB. belichick doesn't deserve it, brady's a hack, and that team is just hateable. glad as heck the giants were able to knock them on their butt. go bucs.

[Chucky]

If the Pats have been spying since 2000, Goodell should put them on probation for at least 2 years. No TV appearances, reduce draft picks and no post-season play; similar to the way the NCAA penalizes teams.

[DR]

Other coaches are down playing the situation since the pats didn't make history. I think that if the Pats did win, the whole league would be wanting to stone Belichick to death.
Fact of the matter is, whether it helped or not, the pats went above and beyond to try to gain an advantage over their opponents and won 3 out of 4 super bowls, each being won by a FG. If the Rams tape turns out to be true, this would be perhaps, the biggest scandal of all of sports history, even beyond the Black Sox scandal. Belichick should be banned from the league and so should the rest of the assistant coaches, Kraft should be forced to sell the team, and the Pats should not be recognized for any of their super bowl wins.

[Jay]

Why anyone would want to spy on the Bucs offense during the 2000 season is equally mysterious. Here. I'll give away all the secrets:

1st Down: Run to the outside. Gain of 1.
2nd Down: Run up the middle. Gain of 2.
3rd Down: Pass out in the flat to the RB, loss of 4.
4th Down: Punt

The defense, on the other hand, was worth watching, mainly because the Cover 2 was based upon how the personnel fit the system so you could watch signals, player nuances and other things to help gain competitive advantages.

The bottom line is, Herm is right. No matter how many signals or plays they have stolen, the men on the field still have to execute.

[Doofus]

Yeah, they still had to go and execute. However, if you knew what play was to be run you would be in better position to defend it. If you knew the defensive call because you studied the signals you could audible a play designed to beat that coverage. Totally unfair.

[Darren]

Commissioner Goodell should impound the Patriot's Lombardi Trophies; hammer a asterisk on each one; and then return them to Robert Kraft. In addition, Bill Belichick should be banned from the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

If our Commissioner does this he will be able to say "If you want to watch cheaters, tune in to baseball. But if you want to watch a real game, then the NFL is for you."

[DR]

Yeah, you gotta love that coment, "you still have to execute." Well, that is the point of cheating, to be able to execute better than others. How can you execute better? Know the other team's intentions by cheating.
I think it's a great idea to hammer in an asterisk on the lombardi trophy. If the allegations come to light and are true, harsher measures are needed.
Belichick should be barred from football already. He admitted in a cowardly way to cheating. I thought the monetary punishment was weak and not enough for somebody who was jeopardizing the integrity of the game. And no, not every team does it!